Tag: Hungry Ghost

As I am waiting patiently, I notice the variety of wandering street vendors selling everything from bottles of water to mops and brooms. There seems to be an army of coffee trolleys on the move. I did notice one woman in the queue ahead of me buy a small coffee from one vendor only to tip it away almost instantly on tasting. Another coffee was purchased from a different vendor which seemed to be much more palatable. I can’t imagine how many mops and brooms get sold by wandering street to street in this way. Life seems very hard sometimes… well, all the time in reality. Unless we strive, we don’t survive. 

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I walked out of Cartagena Airport to the main road and ordered an Uber ride to the main bus station on the other side of town. Sadly and frustratingly, this was another rip-off as the driver took a much longer route than necessary and nearly doubled the estimated fare. My complaint to Uber went nowhere. Not a good start to arrive in a country and be cheated twice in the first 30-minutes of arrival.

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This wonderful open air museum is well worth a visit. We walked through the forest on a well defined path visiting the Arachnoid House before continuing to ‘The Tower’. The Tower is of metal construction and climbs above the tree line.  It was quite a hard, hot and sweaty climb for me but very much worth the effort. We then continued along a 1km path back close to the entrance and café. Here we met another two sailing companions visiting MUSA on this fine Sunday afternoon. It was now a little after 4 pm and the site closes at 5 pm. We had look at the Aquarium that contained some very large Amazonian fish. The Aquarium was next to a small pond with giant floating lilly leaves, and also nearby, was the House of Snakes. We returned to the entrance where our sailing buddies were waiting for us to go the the Parque Rio Negro to watch the sun go down.

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I don’t agree with the Buddha, I quite like sensual pleasures. Particularly new sights, new sounds, new smells, new tastes, new tactile experiences, and some mind wanderimg fantasies.

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As Human Beings we crave certainty along with security. People like a diagnosis… whether good or bad… a diagnosis enables a sense of certainty.

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Just like my ‘self’, the Amazon River changes moment by moment. It is in a constant state of flow, changing it’s shape and direction. And just like my ‘self’, the river is impermanent; one day neither of us will exist in any shape or form.

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When I was a young shipping clerk for Liner Shipping Agencies in Leadenhall Street in the City of London, I looked after ships coming from South America, including the Amazon Basin with transhipments to/from Belem, Manaus and even as far as Iquitos. I can vaguely recall a story about one of our Blue Star Line shipping containers being found somewhere in the jungle and no-one knew how it got there. When I was about 21 or thereabouts, I had an interview for the job of Head Office Representative in the Belem office. It was the type of company where it mattered which university you had attended. I never finished A-level studies let alone higher education. I didn’t get the job but I always remember that Belem has an Opera House. Maybe, I will come back one day and go to the opera.

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Now we are underway, it is worth all of the hassle to just lay in my hammock watching the jungle go by. The boat from Iquitos to Santa Rosa/Tabatinga was fun but, to put it kindly, a rust bucket. This vessel from Tabatinga to Manaus is like a luxury liner in comparison! There is even onboard WiFi if you are prepared to pay for it.

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The boat makes a stop somewhere after midnight but I am too tired to look. I wake up before 6 am. Some people are packing up to go. This part of the Amazon borders with Colombia. My new friend, Marina is French but speaks excellent Spanish and a smattering of Portugese, asks one of the crew what time we will get to Santa Rosa. He replies 12 o’clock. Both Marina and I were hoping to formally exist Peru in Santa Rosa and enter Brazil in Tabatinga in time to catch a boat to Manaus. My Yellow Fever vaccination is valid from today to I am allowed to enter Brazil. 

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As the boat makes one of it’s many stops, nudging against the muddy riverside, a gangplank is dropped to eliminate the gap… and Bruce Springsteen can be heard from the bridge singing “…can’t start a fire without a spark”. This song always meant so much to me as a long-term nightshift worker, in fact, since the dawn of the smartphone it has been my ringtone.

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